Do law schools break their promises?

Take responsibility
I can’t believe what I have read in “The case against law schools” (Aug. 15). It’s another article in which people refuse to take responsibility for their own foolishness.
I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry about the following:

“However, (Ben) Rothman, who graduated last May, says he soon questioned the value of his education when classes proved so easy that he slept through them and still achieved middling grades. He began wondering whether admissions officers would have ‘let a dead squirrel roll in.’ ”

He slept through classes, got middling grades and didn’t get a high paying job — and this is the law school’s fault?

I certainly hope he is embarrassed by his remarks. And if he is not, we know why he hasn’t been hired at a high-paying law firm.

My daughter went to this same school fully understanding that only the top performers in each class would be offered jobs in law firms. She knew this because she did the research before she made the investment. She graduated third in her class and has been fully employed, making a six-figure salary since graduating and passing the California bar, which is considered one of the toughest in the nation.

Let’s stop kids of all ages from whining and encourage them to take responsibility. A.M. Mahon, Cranford

A sad state of affairs
Just what is this world coming to? We now have recently graduated lawyers claiming they were duped by high-pressure law schools promising rewarding careers in law. Next we will have homeowners claiming the were duped into buying overpriced homes they can no longer afford by high-pressure banks promising untold wealth appreciation in their homes.

Yes, just what is this world coming to? We’d all like to know.Douglas Wicks, Basking Ridge

School is an investment
This letter references your article “The case against law schools.”
I am dismayed by the portrait it paints of recent law school grads and the blame those featured in the article heaped onto the law schools they attended.

As a practicing attorney and one who admittedly struggled after graduation to find a job in a competitive market, not once did I complain about my alma mater or place blame for the position I was in.

While I agree that law schools inflate numbers, this pattern is influenced by the erroneous methodology used by consumer publications to rank law schools. Despite this, law school is an investment made by people with college educations who, as adults, should understand that an investment should be tended to over time. You wouldn’t purchase a house and then never mow the lawn. Similarly, you wouldn’t go to law school and snooze through classes.

The law diploma and bar card are pieces of paper that take an active mind to get the most out of them. Thomas M. Beline, Washington

President wrong on mosque
In the Aug. 14 story “Obama backs mosque at Ground Zero,” the president’s statement reflects gross negligence. Placing a house of worship within two blocks — or two miles — of what Americans consider hallowed ground is sacrilegious.

The majority of Americans believe this new mosque should not be built in the proximity of the hallowed area of Ground Zero. Shame on President Obama. E. Douglas Barnes, West Orange

School hasn’t changed
This past weekend, five friends from the 1974 class of Abraham Clark High School reconnected after 34 years. Your article “School’s change is fund-amental” talked about the abysmal conditions at Roselle’s public high school.

As a graduate, I can tell you that this is nothing new.

Many New Jersey schools are scrambling to make do with less in these tough times. In the case of Abraham Clark, the decrepit building, low student attendance, abysmal test scores and low morale are a sad, on-going story. We had to laugh at how very bad the teachers, staff and programs were back in 1974.

In addition, we all compared notes as to how often we were mugged or threatened by other students. Our high school years were overshadowed by racial tensions after the riots of 1968.

We five graduates are college educated and have made happy, successful lives for ourselves. I attribute this to our families’ influences.

What about all the children in Roselle who aren’t so lucky? This is a story that I hope you’ll follow over time, because it would be wonderful to see something positive happen at Abraham Clark High School.Patricia Brennan Blaettler, Morristown

Money won’t fix problems
Your article “School’s change is fund-amental” leads readers to believe that the problem with Roselle’s schools is going to be fixed by a federal grant. This is not only misleading in the particular case, it promotes a theory of government and spending that exacerbates a worsening problem.

Roselle does not have a funding problem. The school system already spends more than the state average (about $14,000 per student, as compared to a state average of $13,200) in a state that ranks third in the country in per-student spending. The school’s peeling paint, broken plumbing and old textbooks are a product of mismanagement, not underfunding.

You do a disservice to the people of New Jersey by perpetuating the idea that increased funding will solve the problem of failing schools. By doing so, you create pressure for unnecessary spending when at both the state and federal levels, we are already living beyond our means.

You also encourage people to look in the wrong place for a solution to the education problems facing our state. Michael Lutz, Bernardsville

Adoptees are poorly treated
In her article about New Jersey’s medical records “Dogs have more rights than adoptees in Jersey” (Aug. 15), Carol Barbieri deftly points out an oxymoron inherent in the state’s laws concerning canine vs. human family histories. New Jersey’s purebred dogs have laws providing for super-accurate family histories, whereas New Jersey’s adoptees have scrupulously kept secrecy laws to keep our families’ histories nonexistent.

If you want to adopt a child, stringent laws govern biological, psychological, marital, medical and family histories before becoming adoptive parents.

While state adoption agencies make sure prospective adoptive parents pass proverbial white-glove tests, the prospective adoptee, on the other hand, has a history that will, by law, remain shrouded and produce a lifetime of doubt and speculation about who we are.
New Jersey’s purebred dogs know who they are, and New Jersey’s adoptees can’t.Bobbee Braul, Lebanon